THE FAMOUS PARABLE OF THE EXCELLENT PHYSICIAN AND HIS SIX CHILDREN

THE FAMOUS PARABLE OF THE EXCELLENT PHYSICIAN AND HIS SIX CHILDREN

Suda: Only a heartless Buddha would fail to care about the fate of those living after him and refuse to teach them the path to happiness. The "Life Span" chapter speaks con...clusively about the salvation of those who live after Shakyamuni's passing. This is evident in the famous parable of the excellent physician and his sick children, expounded in this chapter. 

Endo: The parable tells of a father who is an excellent physician. While he is away, his children drink poison, and he returns home to find them writhing on the ground in agony. The physician prepares medicine for his children, but they refuse to take it, for the poison has caused them to lose their minds. 

The father then devises a plan to save his children. Leaving behind the medicine, he sets off on a journey. Reaching his destination, he sends a messenger to tell his children that he has died. They are so overcome with grief that they regain their senses, drink the medicine and are immediately cured. 

The excellent physician is the BUDDHA, and the journey on which he departs represents the Buddha's passing. Nichiren Daishonin further says that the children indicate the people living in the Latter Day of the Law, the good medicine is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and the messenger refers to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. In other words, NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO, the excellent MEDICINE that saves all people after the Buddha's passing, has been expounded in the "Life Span" chapter. 

—The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Vol. 1, p. 46